Coming into the Light
by Aurora513
Summary: Mina, her life suddenly a lie soon finds herself in a world she is not familiar with, and all she can do is strive to become like the girl newsies she has just met. 8 chapters up now! Please R&R!
1. Mina

Author Note:  
I have been writting this story for quite some time now but have just recently decided to post it on this site. before it was posted on a site belonging to my friends and myself. I hope you enjoy. Mina is a character from my own making. Please Review!

Aurora

COMING INTO THE LIGHT

Mina walked quickly down the street, it was bad enough that she had to go out by herself but it was getting dark now too. Her brother would throw a fit if he knew she had gone out alone, at night. But she had no choice this time. It wasn't like the other times when she had snuck away just to be alone in the city.  
  
Then she felt it. That feeling where you know you're being watched. The shivers up your spine, and the bad feeling in your gut. Mina walked faster. She new it was him. She tried to deny the fact but every part of her body told her it was him. She walked faster.  
  
She knew she shouldn't have gone, but she really didn't have a choice. They didn't have any food. On normal days she wasn't allowed to go out alone, at least not since the threat. David, her brother, always went with her, or one of his friends did. It was rather annoying but after a couple of close calls Mina knew that her brother was actually right this time about wanting to protect her. Then there was a fight. It had happened about a week ago. Mina didn't know the whole story, which wasn't unusual because no one ever told her anything. All she knew was that her brother's friends had brought David home, and he was unconscious and bleeding from several severe wounds. She had nursed him back to health like any good sister should. But then he got sick, it was horrible and all she could do at this point was keep him warm and try to get him to eat. Then yesterday they had run out of food. She hoped he'd still be asleep when she got home.  
  
If I get home, she thought, and then she mentally kicked herself for thinking something like that. Why am I so paranoid?! Oh maybe it's because everyone has always protected me! she thought, somewhat bitterly as she quickened her pace yet again. Mina breathed a small sigh of relief as soon as she reached a place that was crowded with people. She thought that she'd be safe there, too many witnesses. After gathering together some food that would hopefully last them several days Mina hurried back home. She could feel him watching her the whole way, but she just kept walking as fast as she can. Once she reached the apartment Mina locked the door and went to check on her brother. Thankfully, he was asleep still.


	2. Learning of Greenwich

Enter some newsies of my own making. True there are some of the origional newsies later on and they dont' belong to me (i wish they did but yeah). but the Greenwich Newsies don't all belong to me either. Random is a character belonging to a friend. Calypso belongs to my friend Casche as does Pharoh and Blue. Shadow owns himself and Cleo. Book belongs to my buddy Ty. I am Cookie. and slightly Mina too if you mix them. Pockets, Tails, and Cook's brothers and Mina's brother are all from my head. and all that. Greenwich Lodging House (at least the one in this story) belongs to Ran, Caly, and me.and of course the other newsies residing there.

enjoy. please review.

A week later David was well enough to go back to work at one of New York's many factories, and Mina was left on her own once again. She sometimes took in the sewing of some of the richer people of the city but that was the only thing she did all day. Things went back to normal. David's best friend Tails would come every morning and walk with Mina around the city to collect the sewing. Tails was a newsie so he just sold papers as the two of them walked, he had become an extra brother to Mina over the years and he did what everyone else did: protect her from the harshness of the world. She was tired of it but she still enjoyed his company.  
  
One morning as Tails and Mina were walking, Mina carrying a basket, a tall, dark complected boy came up and pushed Tails.  
  
"Where do ya think yer goin?" the boys voice was angry but his green eyes twinkled.  
  
" 'EY! Where ya been kiddo?!" Tails grinned and clapped the boy on the back.  
  
"Oh ya know... here...there," he said, trying to be mysterious.  
  
"Jersey?" Tails asked.  
  
"Actually I 'ad some 'business' in New Orleans, 'n' I hopped down ta Texas ta check on some stuff..."  
  
"Meanin ya found an excuse ta go search for Cookie's brudda's?" Tails asked matter of factly.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Ya didn' find nothin did ya?"  
  
"Not a thing! Dey wouldn' jist go off 'n' leave 'er! Poor kid, I can' tell 'er dat I didn' find nothin, tha's why I didn' tell 'er why I went," the boy seemed sad.  
  
"Poor kid..." Tails said sympathetically.  
  
Mina just stared at them in wonder, even she was feeling sorry for this "Cookie" that she had never heard of before.  
  
"Oh! Dis is me pal Mina. Mina dis rascal is Pockets," Tails said remembering that Mina was just standing there.  
  
"Nice ta meet ya," Pockets, the green eyed boy, tipped his hat.  
  
"Nice to meet you too," Mina smiled at him. "Are you a newsie also?"  
  
"Yup! Sure am! Cook's made a honest man outta me now, no more pickin pockets," Pock grinned mischievously.  
  
"You picked pockets??" Mina asked, she wasn't horrified, a lot of the orphans in New York resorted to that. "And..um...who's 'Cookie'??"  
  
"Cook is an old friend o' mine. She's a newsie, couple o' 'er friends 'n' 'erself run a lodgin house ova ta Greenwich way," Pockets said.  
  
"Cute kid, 'er 'n' Ran 'ad one o' da best scam jobs dis city eva saw. Lot's o' kids 'ave tried their approach but only dey could pull it off, den they went honest," Tails grinned to himself as he remembered how he had met the duo.  
  
"What did they do?" Mina asked, she was interested in these girls who could just go out and take everything for themselves. They had even gained respect from these two boys, and she imagined countless others.  
  
"Well Cook 'as dis believable cough, 'n' like Tails said, she's a cute kid, when she wants she can be da most pitiful person ya eva saw. 'n' when da beggin didn' woik, Ran jist picked da person's pockets. Dey neva knew wha' hit 'em," Pock grinned.  
  
"Wow," Mina said quietly. She wished she could do something that made her money and gained her respect, she was tired of being a proper young girl. Soon Tails and Pockets started talking about something and Mina was left alone with her thoughts.  
  
Mina knew what she must look like. Her long jet black hair was in a low bun on the back of her head, her plain skirt was modest and her shirt waist was a perfect white. Mina came back from her own little world when she heard Pockets saying something about a nasty knife wound. She tuned back into Tails's and Pockets's conversation so that she could figure out who had been hurt.  
  
"I couldn' leave til if knew she was alrigh. Thank goodness Book knows kinda wha's she's doin." Pockets said, his brow furrowed.  
  
"How'd i' 'appen dis time?" Tails asked.  
  
"Well ya know da goils are always feelin like dey gotta prove demselves, 'n' I guess dey kinda do. Dey got in a fight wit' some scabs. Whole thin' was bloody but we won o' course," Pockets said with some pride.  
  
"Everybody in on i'?" Tails asked.  
  
"Yup, almost all o' us was dere. Ran, Caly, Cook, Book, Phae, Blue, Riddle, Wolf, meself, 'n' o' course Shadow, Cleo was outta town."  
  
"Ya got a tough group."  
  
"Most o' 'em don't really enjoy fighten though. Especially since Cook usually gets hurt," Pockets shook his head sadly.  
  
"Was she the one that got the knife wound?" Mina asked quietly.  
  
"Yup," Pocket smiled sadly at her.  
  
"What are the other people like?" Mina asked excitedly. "Ever'body else?" Pockets grinned. "I'll jist give ya da short version. Ran, well i already kinda tol' ya bout 'er, she's kinda loud 'n' she lets ya know how she feels. Nevah make 'er mad, she'll kick yer butt, but she's real nice 'n' helps people out when she knows dey need it. Always a good friend," Pock grinned.  
  
"Caly, she da otha leddah...now she's tough. She ain't all smiley like Ran 'n' Cook but she still knows how ta 'ave a good time, you'll jist 'afta meet 'er ta understand. She keeps daggers wit' 'er 'n' man is 'er aim good.  
  
"Den ya got Book, da name speaks for 'er. She's always readin, 'n' she's kinda quiet. Riddle don' say much eitha, 'n' da same wit' 'er bruddah Wolf, who tends ta tawk wit' Book 'bout...well books.  
  
"Phae, well 'e's been dere longer den Cook 'n' Ran, same wit' 'is bruddah Blue. Phae's sweet on Caly deep down but 'e's been real sweet on Cleo eva since she arrived. Blue don't seem ta say much eitha but 'e's good ta 'ave aroun.  
  
"That brings me ta Cleo, she's Shadow's cousin. Man, can she get angry but den she'll calm down. She reminds me alot o' Shadow.  
  
"Now for Shadow, 'e brings tons o' culture ta da house. 'e's part o' dis jazz band 'n' dey come 'n' we 'ave parties on da roof, tons o' fun. Da goils tend to let loose 'n' man can dey dance," he winked at Tails. "Shadow's brought many a fight for us too, but dis last one came cuz o' out three gorgeous leddah's." Pockets finished his spill, and grinned at how wide Mina's eyes had gotten because of how fast he talked.  
  
"Ya get all o' dat sweetheart?" he asked with a wink.  
  
"I..I think so," she smiled shyly. "Did anybody else get hurt?" Mina tried to seem like fights were normal to her too.  
  
"Jist da usual," Pockets said with a shrug.  
  
"Is Cookie alright?"  
  
"Yeah, she's used ta it by now. In fact she was out sellin da next day," Pock grinned somewhat sadly.  
  
"And she was stabbed?!?!"  
  
"Yea, she's got anotha scar ta add ta 'er collection," Pock laughed at Mina's shock.  
  
"Has that happened to anybody else?"  
  
"Well, Shadow's been shot a few times, nothin major but it shoah scared da hell outta everyone."  
  
"Shot?!?!?!"  
  
"Woah you gotta get out more kid," Pockets winked at her.  
  
"Ain't dat da truth," Tails grinned at Mina.  
  
"Yeah, you're right..." Mina could help blushing at how naive she was.


	3. Enter the Famous Ran and Cook

like i've already said Ran is completely my friend. Is you knew her you'd so understand.

Suddenly Pockets was hit in the head with an apple core. "'ey!" he whirled around to see two girls laughing at him from across the street.  
  
"Alright! Which one of yas threw it?" Pockets grinned as he yelled across to them.  
  
"Who are they?" Mina whispered to Tails as she starred at the two girls. They were wearing PANTS! (The horror!!! The horror!! My eyes! My eyes, they burn!! ahhh!)  
  
"Dat's Cook 'n' Ran," Tails grinned.  
  
"Which is which?!" Mina whispered excitedly.  
  
Tails laughed, "Da blonde is Ran, 'n' da brunette is Cook."  
  
Cook grinned at Pockets and just shrugged, while Ran grinned and pointed at Cook.  
  
" 'ey! snitch!" Cook giggled and elbowed her friend. "Alrigh alrigh..i'se guilty!" Cook held up her hands.  
  
"Of course ya did it! I ain't dat mean," Ran laughed.  
  
"Both o' ya get yer but ova 'ere!" Pockets damanded.  
  
"Since when do we take orda's from da like of ya Charles O'Riley," Cook said with her hands on her hips.  
  
" 'ey now watch yerself Elizabeth Kingston!" Pockets yelled back.  
  
Cook stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"It so 'appens dat we was comin ova 'ere anyways," Ran said after they had made their way across the crowded street. "TAILS!" Cookie pounced on Tails as soon as they had crossed the street.  
  
"Good ta see ya too, Cook," Tails said with a big grin.  
  
"'eya Tails!" Ran smiled at him.  
  
" 'ey Ran! How ya goils been?" Tails put his arm around Cook's shoulder.  
  
"Meh, ya know how it goes," Ran shrugged.  
  
"I hear ya got anotha scar kiddo," Tails said, accidentally forgetting that Mina was just standing there and starring at the loud, short duo.  
  
"Yeah, ya wanna see?" Cook grinned.  
  
"Sure, why no'." Tails shrugged.  
  
Cook unbuttoned her maroon vest and lifted her shirt a little to reveal a kind of nasty looking scar on her stomach.  
  
Mina couldn't help but gasp.  
  
"Who's your friend?" Ran asked, anything was better than looking at that scar.  
  
"Oh, dis is Mina. Mina meet da famous Random 'n' Cookie," Tails tried to stop starring at Cook's scar.  
  
"N-nice to meet you both," Mina said quietly.  
  
"Nice ta meet ya too kid," Cook said, not bothering to tuck in her shirt.  
  
"Ya can jist call me Ran," Ran smiled at the girl. "Poor kid don't got an ounce of street smarts," Ran thought to herself.  
  
"Well if it ain't a couple o' good-for-nothin' newsies," an annoying voice called over to the small group.  
  
"Shouldn' ya be stealin' from unsuspectin people or somethin?" Ran rolled her eyes at the exact same time as Cook did. She didn't feel like coming up with a good comeback for this loser.  
  
"Where's ya otha little friend?" the annoying voice's person said as he walked up.  
  
"If you's tawkin' bout Caly, well she's off on 'er own," Ran glared at the boy.  
  
"Yea, 'n' ya bettah thank yer lucky stars she ain't 'ere too!" Cook glared at him.  
  
"Doncha got someone else ta annoy?" Pockets hoped he's just go away. "Get lost Oscah," Tails said, his arm once again around Cook's shoulder.  
  
"Well I know when I ain't anted..." the annoying Oscar mumbled.  
  
"Her righ! Ya ain't wanted. Get lost," Ran said angrily, she didn't have much patience for stupid people, ever.  
  
Oscar mumbled something else under his breath and then walked off.  
  
"One o' these days 'e's gonna wish 'e weren't so annoying," Pockets had a strong hatred of people like Oscar, especially Oscar.  
  
"Sure 'e will, Pock," Cook patted her friend's arm, and winked at the others.  
  
"Was that Oscar Delancy?" Mina asked shyly.  
  
"Unfortunately," Ran replied.  
  
"Oh, my brother told me to stay far away from him." And most of the people in New York, she added silently.  
  
"Who's yer bruddah?" Cook asked and then she poked Tails, just because she felt like it.  
  
"David Butterworth," Mina replied.  
  
"Dave is yer bruddah!!" Ran grinned. "Poor kid.."  
  
"What do you mean?" Mina was slightly confused.  
  
"Dave don' seem ta know how ta 'ave fun no more," Cook said it like he had some sort of severe illness or something. "Well..." Mina wasn't quite sure what to say to that. She felt she should defend her brother but she really didn't want to lie either.  
  
"uh oh Tails ya betta be careful. 'ere comes Race n ya got yer arm aroun 'is goil," Pockets grinned and Cook glared at him.  
  
"actually Race n me are 'takin a break' " Cook rolled her eyes.  
  
"Why?" Tails pulled her a bit closer.  
  
" e said 'e's tired of me almos dyin so much," Cook shrugged.  
  
"Dat ain't yer falt!" Tails defended her.  
  
"Come on ya know dey'll be back tagetha in no time at all," Ran stated simply "Dey've been tagethah fer years."  
  
"Ya nevah know Ran," Cook said quietly.  
  
"Sure..." Ran replied skeptically.  
  
" eya goils! fellahs," Jack said as he and Race, followed by Boots, walked up to the growing group.  
  
"eya Cowboy, how's it goin?" Tails grinned at them.  
  
" eya guys," Ran nodded.  
  
" ey! It's goin..." Jack shrugged.  
  
"Da headlines 'ave been real crummy lately," Boots said as he dug through his marbles pouch.  
  
"Yeah, wha else is new..." Ran was annoyed at how horrible the headlines had been for the past couple of weeks. She could do better and she was tempted to go tell Pulitzer that. And she just might too.  
  
"ey Cook, I got some nice ones 'ere" Boots held out a couple of marbles to show her.  
  
"Yeah? I like dese betteah though," Cook had a pouch that looked exactly like Boots' in her hand and she had pulled a couple of marbles out of it.  
  
"ey!!" Boots said somewhat angrily when he realized that it was his pouch she was holding.  
  
"How'd ya do dat?!" Jack hadn't even seen her take it.  
  
"Remember I was taught by da best," She grinned and looked at her mentor of sorts, Ran.


	4. Heartbreak

I love Race. I wish he and Jack were mine. I'd even love to call Boots my own. sadly. they are not.

Ran just leaned against the wall, with her arms crossed of course and nodded knowingly.  
  
Mina felt left out, and these loud comical newsies made her seem like an inadament object. Then she noticed someone else that looked left out. She searched her head for the name of this guy, who was rather attractive. Then Mina realized that that must be Race. And he wasn't left out, he looked almost heart broken, just standing there starring. Mina followed his gaze and saw that he was starring at Cookie, who was laughing and being silly. Mina didn't see what Ran saw though. Ran was also watching Cookie, and she noticed that every so often Cook would steal a look at Race. Ran could tell they were both miserable, so why the hell didn't one of them say something! Something else worried her too. Cook had gotten good at hiding how she felt, possibly too good. Mina soon found herself thinking about how attractive Race really was. Race on the other hand felt like he was dying. It shouldn't be this hard, he thought to himself. In fact he had been just fine, kind of, until he saw her, and it was worse when h e saw Tails hanging all over her. And why the hell did she look so...Cookie-like! It wasn't fair!  
  
Cookie, as Ran had predicted, was far from okay. After all her and Race had been through a lot together and suddenly that ass wanted a "break." If she was so sad, she'd be really pissed.  
  
Then Mina did something she didn't know she had enough guts to do. She walked right up to Race. "Hello, I'm Mina," she said quietly.  
  
"Uh...I'se Race," Race still couldn't tear his eyes away from Cook.  
  
Then Cook saw Race talking to that Mina girl, and she just couldn't stay there.  
  
"Uh...I gotta go..." she said in the middle of some witty conversation with the bays and she rushed off in some random direction.  
  
"Damn it... I gotta go find da kid," Ran said and slowly followed her. She knew where Cook would go.  
  
"Wha' was dat all about?" Jack asked and he hoped someone would know.  
  
Pockets just nodded his head in Race's direction.  
  
"Poor kid," Books, Jack, and Tails all said at the same time. After about ten minutes of walking Ran arrived at an old warehouse. The place her and Cook had once called home, when they weren't in the refuge of course. Compared with Greenwich this place was pretty much a dump but back then they could make it seem like a palace when they felt like it.  
  
Ran went straight for the office where she found Cook sitting in a corner.  
  
"Man, dis place brings back memories," Ran grinned at Cook as she walked in.  
  
"I need a smoke. Didn't ya hide some damn cigarettes in here?" Cook was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Ya quit. Remember kiddo?"  
  
Ran said quietly and sat beside her.  
  
"I can't take dis Ran," Cook started crying.  
  
"Yeah ya can kid. Yer tough. We've been through tons worse. Remembah da refuge?" Ran hugged her and tried to get her to stop crying.  
  
Cook just kept crying though. "Hey kid, you've almost died tons o' times. 'e's jist some lousy boy." Ran kept describing all the bad stuff about guys in general.  
  
"Me 'n Spot ain't togetha anymore n I'm still livin. Look at Cowboy. Sara ran off ta become a freakin nun n 'e's poifectly fine," Ran handed Cook a handkerchief.  
  
"Yea, but dat's different," Cook sobbed.  
  
"How so?"  
  
"I ain't as strong as da two o' ya," she said sadly.  
  
"Why do ya say tha?"  
  
"I can't stand it, Ran. I thought me n Race was in love, den... 'e just ended it," Cook became a bit angry.  
  
"Like I said, guys is stupid," Ran stated simply


	5. Truth and Darkness

About a week later Mina ran through the streets of Manhattan. It was late and she just knew "he" was following her. Mina didn't know Manhattan, or anywhere else in New York for that matter, very well. She had led a very sheltered childhood. Soon she found herself lost and that is when she really began to panic. However, after much aimless wandering, she found the familiar apartment building where she had spent most of her 15 years.  
  
Mina had had a very strange evening. It all started when David asked her to go pick something up for him. By herself! At night! He had been acting strange all day but she just dismissed it as David being... well David.  
  
As Mina walked up the steps and into the building a man with the same jet black hair as herself was exiting. He smiled, and nodded at her, and she smiled back. He looks familiar, she said to herself as she walked up more stairs to their apartment but when she couldn't remember who he could be she just shrugged it off.  
  
When she walked in David was sitting at their kitchen table doing something he practically never did; drink alcohol. He didn't seem to have been sitting there long but he was well on his way to being inebriated.  
  
"Dave, are you alright?" Mina asked cautiously as she set the book she had been sent to buy on the table.  
  
"He was here again," David seemed perfectly miserable.  
  
"Who is 'he'? And what did he say that made you like this?" Mina acted like she was talking to an animal that might attack at any second.  
  
"Your father," he said quietly.  
  
Mina's eyes went wide and she shook her head. "No David, Papa is dead."  
  
"My father is dead, your's is very much alive," he wouldn't look her in the eyes.  
  
"What are you saying?! Mama would never have done that!"  
  
"No she wouldn't, and she didn't. She's not your mother either, Mina." David starred at the pattern on the table cloth.  
  
"Why are you telling me this?!" Mina felt like a trapped animal.  
  
"And I'm not your brother. I'm your cousin. Your mother was Mama's little sister, your father was some man she met. They never married, he disappeared and a few months later you came. She died though, giving birth to you. So we took you in, raised you as one of us."  
  
"LIAR!" Mina screamed and knocked the book off the table.  
  
"I love you as my sister Mina..."  
  
But Mina didn't stay long enough to hear him, she ran out of their apartment as quickly as she could. Her whole life was a lie. Everything that she had ever believed in wasn't real, had never been real, and would never ever be real. Mina just kept running. There was no stopping. It was the same with her tears. How could that be? And was that man she had met on the stairs her father? He did have some of the same features, the same hair. But could the world be so unfair?  
  
Mina wanted to be brave. Brave like those news girls she had met awhile back. They were constantly fighting people and had been alone most of their lives. She knew she'd never be able to do that. She was too weak. Too quiet. Too meek. Too scared.  
  
Eventually she stopped running, and she didn't know where she was. But she didn't care. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. Not even the fact that she was being followed by "him" again. He usually followed her. Trying to catch her, but only when noone was around. Like now. Only at dark would he strike. Like now. She had always escaped, but not this time.


	6. Quiet

Sorry so short. The next chapter had to be seperate though. You'll see.

Life went on for Cookie, despite how she felt. Race felt the same though. Except he felt stupid. But life went on. Slowly they became friends, but there was always something there. Something in the shadows waiting for both of them to call it out. Neither did though and life just went on.  
  
There was another fight, which was common for the Greenwich kids. The time to worry was when there wasn't a fight. Someone might be plotting against them.  
  
They fought good though, beat another group of boys. And this time no one had to have stitches.  
  
Cookie spent more time at the old warehouse and Ran would often find herself going there to check on her or talk her into coming back to the house.  
  
It was the quiet time after dealing with an exceptionally percisitant gang of boys, who had finally given up after being soaked so badly that it was a miracle any of them could walk. A quiet time when things were peaceful. A quiet time when almost everyone itched for a fight, or something to end the quiet


	7. Innocence Ended

Mina found herself trapped. Her back to a wall and he was slowly moving towards her. His face hidden in the shadows. He had been following her for ages, trying to get to her. Trying to hurt her in the way a man would hurt a woman. Always David had looked out for her, had kept her locked up or in constant companion with someone he trusted but now she was alone. Completely alone. She found herself thinking once more of the news girls as the face of her attacker, smug with triumph, came into the light. She knew what would happen. Her body tensed but she just stood there. Stood there like an idiot as he came closer. And closer. She had to fight back, even though she didn't know how she had to. She hoped she could channel some of the spirit of those news girls who fought boys and beat them. Those girls who were always fighting to get respect in a world where females were to be looked at and used, rarely respected. She wanted to be like that, but if she had known how they became the way they were she might have changed her mind. If she knew how they really lived, their secret thoughts rarely even shared with each other, she would have changed her mind. But not knowing this caused her to fight back. To struggle when he finally got what he had been waiting to get for years. And he did. Even though she fought, he got what he wanted. He tried to ruin her life.  
  
He tried to beat her.  
  
But little did he know that she had caught a glimpse of girls who always fought, even in the worst of odds, and got past everything. She had caught a glimpse of how she could be. She saw that you can't just give up. So even though he ruined her in one way, he caused her to become tough. And she was never the same.  
  
A new door opened when he dirtied her and left her in the alley. His prize won and forgotten, for the moment. And she stayed in that alley for hours, laying there without any motion.  
  
Laying there figuring out a way to ruin his life.  
  
Figuring out a way to get back at him.  
  
The thought of revenge consumed her.  
  
Mina finally became alittle like the news girls she looked up to so. But she still had a long way to go. A very long way.

(( I'm not sure if i should continue this story. One of my friends, Ran in fact, has threatened me if i don't. but i mean for this site. Please Review and let me know what you think!  
thanks,

Rora))


	8. A Decending Gloom

Cookie could still remember what made her hard, no matter how hard she tried to forget. It just wouldn't leave her alone. Every idle moment the memories would come flooding back. Every time she was alone at night she heard the voices. Ran had her horrible memories too, but neither said anything. Both knew that if they spoke of them, they'd never go away. Never be able to be reburied. So they both kept their fear within, fought more, drank and smoke more. They surrounded themselves with people who also hid their fear and sadness. People who, like them, had been through things people their ages should never see. Cookie found herself smoking again, something she had given up years before due to a horrible cough. And Ran found herself worrying more about Cook too. Knowing that sooner or later the cough would come back and hoping that she wouldn't find her passed out like the many times of their early years. Pockets was worrying too, he believed that if he found Cook's brothers things would get better. So he was gone more, searching. Everything seemed more tense at Greenwich. Winter was coming and all the newsies worried about the coming cold, and the snow that might cause them to sell less papes. The less they could sell, the more time they had to spend sitting inside. Soon they would find that the night when poor Mina lost her innocence, was the last nice night for a few months. For the next day a frost swept through all of New York City, casting a thin layer of ice over everything.  
  
Mina woke that morning shivering, but strong. She soon found herself on her feet and walking in a direction that would later bring her to the Greenwich Lodging House. Once there she curled in a ball on the front steps and slept. Hoping to forget the night before. 


End file.
